The Only Book I Thoroughly Enjoy Rereading

As some of you may know, I love books and I love reading. I'm a HUGE advocate for reading. But this post isn't about why reading is great: It's about rereading. 

I have a few friends that are fellow book lovers, and I'm always impressed when they talk about how many times they've read a certain book. I know people who read Pride and Prejudice every year. People that read A Christmas Carol every Christmas. People that read the entire Harry Potter series every summer.  I am not one of those people. 

My "philosophy" on books for a long time has been: So many books, so little time. 

My thoughts were, "If there are so many story worlds to explore, why would I spend time rereading books?"

However, my book philosophy has changed over the past few months. It looks more like: so many books, so little time, so be wise about what you read, and try to reread the ones that impacted you the most the first time around.

I'm still working on it. But as my book philosophy has changed as well as my reading tastes, I've been thinking about which books I would enjoy rereading again. There are a few definites, but I started thinking about what qualities make a book worth rereading for me. Here is the one qualifier I always came back to:

There has to be the benefit of getting more out of the book a second time around, whether its due to the language or the story structure.

This is the reason I loved reading Shakespeare while in High School. You may laugh, but no matter how many times I read his plays or watched them live, I always got more out of them. The language was so rich (or rather difficult to understand at times) and I learned more about the plot from a second read. 

With this qualifier in mind, there are a few series and books that I can see myself rereading. But this qualifier also highlights a great deal of books that I never see myself rereading because they really didn't have a whole lot of depth, which makes me questions whether I should have even read them in the first place. That's a completely different story though. 

But as I thought about this qualifier, I realized that there's one book that I enjoy rereading immensely. One book that completely fits the mold of a book worthy of a second read. It's a book that I was rereading constantly without realizing it, because I get so much out of it every time I read it. Can you guess what that book is?

It's The Bible. 

Even before I became a Christian my freshman year of college, I loved hearing Bible stories over and over and over again. Noah, Joseph, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, David, Paul, and of course Jesus. So many characters and historical figures. So many stories. So much depth of story. And excellent language. I mean come on, there are so many verses and phrases that are like truffles. They strike a beautiful chord with the soul. It's why people memorize them and quote them and share them. The Bible speaks truth. 

It contains one overarching story (God's redemption of man) that is supported by a plethora of stories in between. It has so many elements: adventure, romance, drama, war, friendship, redemption, and so much more.

The Bible is a book worth reading and rereading, so many times. 

So there you have it. The Bible: the only book I truly enjoy rereading, a book that I get more out of each time I open it. 

If you're looking for a good book with a great story and a whole lot of soul ministering truth that you can go back to again and again, check out The Bible. 

P.S. If there are any books that you love and can recommend for reading and rereading and rereading, let me know! I'm also up for a book recommendation.